Las Vacas Meat & Steak Shop @ SS5, Kelana Jaya

My latest steak-adventure brought me to Las Vacas at SS5 Kelana Jaya, a meat shop cum steak joint that is enjoying a growing popularity among steak lovers recently. They even opened a branch at Mont Kiara not too long ago. So you could say the owners made a smart move by venturing into restaurant business.

While almost everyone is raving about their steaks, sadly my dining experience was marred by a rodent incident. I don’t know why but things like bad service and cleanliness issues seem to find me on their own lol. For example, Kin Kin Chili Pan Mee and that Soo Kee Sang Har Meen. Anyway, more about that later.

Basically there are four types of meat served here: Wagyu, Angus, Grain Fed and Grass Fed and three types of cuts: Ribeye, Striploin and Rump. We were not prepared to fork out for the premium meat just as yet since we were just testing the water. I had the Ribeye Angus @ RM28/100gm.
One thing I like about Las Vacas is the courteousness shown by the owners. They would engage you about your meat preferences and recommend accordingly along with the serving size. Then he would cut the meat at the counter and send it to the kitchen.

If you are planning to have your meat cooked medium rare it is better to order at least one that is at least 200gm because the thicker meat would be easier to cook to the specified doneness. And because the meats are not pre-marinated, they have a very superficial taste. So if you like your steaks to be very flavorful, you should probably look elsewhere.
My 200gm Ribeye Angus @ RM56 was perfectly cooked and seasoned only with black pepper and salt, just nice to bring out the meat’s full natural flavor. And the sides are pretty good too.

SL had the Ribeye Grain Fed, priced at RM23/100gm. It is slightly inferior in terms of taste compared to the Angus, which is an unfair comparison anyway. If you’re looking for a satisfying steak under RM50, this would be the one. But if you are willing to pay a bit more (~RM10) I suggest you get the Angus instead. I couldn’t say for the Wagyu though, since we didn’t try that.

Some meats you could buy from Las Vacas, they are quite reasonably priced.

Now, about the rodent incident. I mentioned before the staff would send the raw meat to the kitchen to cook right? Now, the kitchen and the dining area/meat counter is actually separated by a sliding glass door, which the waitress forgot to close after delivering our steaks. As usual I would snap my food first before digging in. Then suddenly SL and I noticed something dark crawling past us towards the meat counter, then hiding under it. Yeah it was a rat.
The ironic and funny thing was, only we and another table of family saw that rat while the staff was totally unaware of it. I alerted the person in charge and he also acknowledged there was a ‘new’ rat in the house they have yet successfully trapped. Uhh.. ok.
Of course my appetite was affected but luckily the steak was really good and thankfully we did not have any stomach upset after the meal. While I understand that rodent problem is common for restaurants, I did not expect one to crawl out of the kitchen to greet the diners…

If you are wondering, they did not attempt to chase the hiding rat. I would have done the same if I were them. I wouldn’t want a panic rat running around the restaurants causing chaos to the customers, would I? It will only cause a scene anyway.
Just for the record, I feel Las Vacas is a clean restaurant and I don’t intend to hurt their business. After all, they were just featured at Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan on TV3 just now (at time of writing) But I also feel I have the responsibility to report my honest dining experience to my readers.

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